


Nerra, Numa

by Crystalshard



Series: The Reconstruction Corps [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: AU: Good Ending, Adoption, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Pets, Ryloth - Freeform, SO MUCH FLUFF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:20:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27674621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crystalshard/pseuds/Crystalshard
Summary: It's a quiet morning on Ryloth . . . or at least as quiet a morning as you can get with a very energetic daughter and a small menagerie of pets.Waxer and Boil wouldn't be anywhere else, though.
Relationships: Boil & Numa (Star Wars), Boil & Waxer (Star Wars), Numa & Waxer (Star Wars)
Series: The Reconstruction Corps [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023675
Comments: 17
Kudos: 163





	Nerra, Numa

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cac0daemonia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cac0daemonia/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Quiet Morning](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27623888) by [cac0daemonia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cac0daemonia/pseuds/cac0daemonia). 



> Please go look at Caco's gorgeous art which inspired this fic! 
> 
> Ryl and Mando'a translations in the end notes.

The loud thump from Numa's bedroom echoed through the house, followed by rapid footsteps heading for the 'fresher and the enthusiastic slam of a door by a child who hadn't quite got a handle on controlling her increasingly taller, stronger body. 

Waxer, who was well aware of their adopted daughter's energetic approach to morning, eyed the rest of his caf mournfully. "I'm almost looking forward to her being a teenager," he groused to Boil, who was slumped in his chair on the other side of their kitchen table. "The parenting books say she'll start sleeping in then." 

Boil grunted, then got up to pour himself another mug of caf. Settling back in his seat, he promptly drained half the cup to kick-start his early-morning brain. "Yeah, and she'll start going through puberty too. Far as I'm concerned, she can stay small for the rest of her life."

Narrowing his eyes at Boil, Waxer removed their pet tooka from her patch of sunlight on the floor and plopped her in Boil's lap. "Here. Maybe Blaster can sweeten your pre-caf grouchiness." 

Blaster, who despite her name was the most relaxed tooka Waxer had ever met, half-opened one eye and curled up on Boil's lap. As long as she was warm and comfortable, Blaster didn't seem to mind where she was. 

Waxer gulped back the rest of his caf just in time for a small green missile to hit his knees. "Good morning, Dad!" the missile squeaked. "Good morning, Buir!" 

"Tsu’za, Numa," Waxer said, running a hand over her head-cover, smiling softly down at his daughter. 

Boil mumbled something along the same lines, and Numa giggled. "Can we read a story together, Dad?" 

"After you've eaten breakfast," Waxer said firmly. 

Numa raced through her breakfast as rapidly as a trooper with morning inspections to prepare for. Jumping out of her chair, she took two steps before Waxer cleared his throat. 

As quick as before, she grabbed her plate - which was as clean as only a growing child could manage - and dropped it carefully into the sonic cleaner. Then she was off again, browsing the small selection of children's books they'd been gifted by a neighbor whose son had outgrown the stories not so long ago.

As expected, Numa came back with one of her new favorites, _The Tale of the Sun and the Three Wandering Moons_. In Waxer's private opinion, it was tedious and repetitive and only slightly better than GAR regs manuals, but Numa loved it and that was what was important. Plus, it gave him a chance to practice reading Twi'lek script. 

Accepting the book she offered, Waxer settled down on the woven mat that protected two of their other pets against the night-time chill of their kitchen's stone floor. Yoda, their elderly anooba and the first of their adoptees, thumped her tail once in acknowledgement of his presence but declined to open her eyes. Palakwi the massiff puppy, on the other hand, abandoned the giant tree nut he'd been gnawing on and crawled into Waxer's lap to bestow him with licks. 

"Easy, easy," Waxer chuckled, settling the pup down by his side and pushing the tree nut back under his nose. This was apparently an acceptable substitute for Waxer's face, as Palakwi settled back down to contentedly gnaw on the hard shell. 

A damp cloth hit Waxer in the nose, and he took the opportunity to wipe off the massiff drool before launching it back at Boil. To Waxer's annoyance, Boil snatched the cloth out of the air and tossed it into the sink without bothering to shift out of his early-morning slouch. 

A buzzing noise announced the fourth and final member of their impromptu menagerie. The can-cell nymph's wings weren't grown in enough for it to fly yet, but the young insect that Numa had promptly named 'Lucky' was eternally optimistic about its chances of flight. Boil, seemingly resigned, scooped the nymph up in one hand and dumped it on the kitchen table. Blaster the tooka, meanwhile, mewed imperiously for his attention, and Boil obliged her by wrapping a supporting hand under her chest so that she could lean back against him and purr.

Numa dived into Waxer's lap, surprising an _oof_ out of him and effectively distracting him from creature-related shenanigans. "Careful, Numa. You're getting heavy. You don't want to break your Dad, do you?" 

Numa giggled, settling herself with her back to his chest. "Story time!" she demanded. 

Something in Waxer's chest grew warm as she snuggled against him, utterly trusting and unafraid despite the trauma of the Separatist invasion a bare few years back. "Story time," he agreed, opening the book to the beginning.

* * *

Scrolling to the next page, Waxer scanned through the sentence before reading it out loud. "Fendoon, haly," he said slowly, sounding out each syllable as his eyes tracked along the Twi'lek words on the datapad. 

Numa giggled. "Ka, Rymi! Welcome . . . welcome, traveller!"

"Good," Waxer praised. Helping Numa learn Basic was also doing a great deal to help his comprehension of the Ryl alphabet, something he and Boil had initially neglected in favor of mastering the spoken language as quickly as possible. 

Numa bounced happily on his lap, reaching out to pet their massiff's scaly head as she did so. "Can we walk Palakwi and Yoda after the story, Dad?" 

On hearing the word 'walk', Palakwi jumped to his feet and raced in the direction of the door. On finding it closed, the young massiff pup bounced eagerly, fixing both father and daughter with pleading eyes. 

Yoda opened her eyes, huffed in complaint, and marshaled her creaky old bones into getting her to her feet. 

"Looks like we don't get to finish the story today, Numa," Waxer said, desperately trying to fight a smile as Numa turned eyes on him that could rival Palakwi's for pleading. 

"Can't Buir walk them?" 

"Buir," Boil said firmly, draining the last of his caf and settling Blaster onto her sun-warmed tooka bed, "is teaching his language class this morning. So no, Buir cannot take them out." 

"But, Dad . . ." Numa whined. 

"What did I teach you about caring for animals?" Waxer asked her, his face serious. 

Numa tipped her head back, and it seemed that even upside-down she understood his expression. "That if you've tamed it or claimed it as yours, you're always, _always_ responsible for them. And animals don't understand why if you let them down." 

"Which means?" Waxer prompted.

"We're talking them for a walk right now." Numa sighed, but obediently went to go find the animals' leads and harnesses. Once outside the village, they'd let the pair loose, but it was safest to have them leashed around so many interesting smells. They'd once found Palakwi in a neighbor's kitchen, peacefully chewing on a sack of munch-fungus, and after that they'd made sure that there would be no more escapes. 

Boil, who'd found his shoes at some point during the discussion, stepped up shoulder to shoulder with his brother. "You're sure you want her to grow into a teenager?" he asked quietly, suppressed laughter in his voice as they watched Numa scurry around the kitchen. 

Waxer elbowed him. "She'll grow either way. I just want her to grow into the best of herself, you know?" 

Boil nodded. "I know. Me too." He paused, then raised his voice to normal conversational levels. "Numa, is it okay if I take Lucky with me to class?" 

Numa paused, her arms full of cured leather and woven rope. "Ah, yes? Yes, Buir." 

Boil stretched out an arm and whistled, and the can-cell nymph crawled up his arm to perch neatly on his shoulder. It had taken Boil a while to teach Lucky that trick, but Boil maintained it was worth it. 

Waxer, meanwhile, wielded his brotherly right of sass every chance he got. "Speaking of growing - you sure that's a good idea? Imagine Lucky being three meters long and still thinking it can land on you." 

Boil huffed, and elbowed Waxer back. 

It was good to be home.

**Author's Note:**

>  **Ryl translations:**
> 
> _Nerra, Numa_ \- Brother, Sister  
>  _Tsu'za_ \- Good morning  
>  _Fendoon, haly_ \- Welcome, traveller  
>  _Ka, Rymi_ \- Yes, Dad
> 
> Apparently Ryl doesn't have a word for 'father', so I adapted one from 'mother'. 
> 
> **Mando'a translations:**
> 
> _Buir_ \- Parent


End file.
